Rory Sutherland, vice chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, has a great analogy of the success of bees survival to the importance of random testing in marketing.
Bees communicate food sources (flowers) to other bees in their hive using a system known as the “waggle dance.” From an evolutionary standpoint, it’s helped bees be hyper efficient and survive. After all, the less effort a bee has to put into being successful in finding and harvesting nectar, the more productive the hive operates.
However, a small minority of bees ignore the “proven path” to food and go rogue, flying randomly about. Are these bees stupid? Are they incapable or unwilling to follow instructions? Are they flawed in some manner? Who knows.
But random bees are essential to the hive’s survival – because the non-conformist bees act as scouts to find new sources of food. Without them, bees would be trapped into relying on existing but finite food sources, which could lead to starvation.
So while all the other bees march to the beat of certain success (which IS smart and efficient) the rogue bees prevent that single source of success from becoming a dangerous, limiting liability.
So goes with marketing. You need a certain percentage of your budget set aside that is not beholden to delivering an ROI and is free to be put “at risk” to fail provided it teaches you something.
I’ve often said that “Marketers never have failures – we only have tests.” Many think I’m just being cute, but I’m intensely serious.
Everything we do that’s new IS a test and has to be seen that way. If you only do what is guaranteed or known, you’ll have a very tiny, very limited list of activities that will not only stunt your growth, but prevent you from discovering something truly revolutionary. It’s akin to bees becoming overly reliant on one food source and never finding a breakthrough or a better, more prolific food source.
That’s true failure.
Let me also be clear that when I say random testing, I don’t mean irresponsible randomness. If you have a system for producing great leads from trade shows, you test a different show or test a different offer. Test small. You don’t just throw a dart and “try” trade shows with 50% of your marketing budget without some level of rational and reasonable chance of success.
You also need to not lose sight of what makes a marketing campaign work when you’re testing. All marketing success requires clarity on a chosen target market and a marketing message (copy, offer) that your ideal prospect will want to say “yes” to or engage with.
You don’t get to ignore gravity (see my previous Rant about “Romantic Ideas”).
Instead, take something that is working to some degree and change ONE element of it. Change the price. Change the terms. Change the offer. Change to communication. Change the pitch. Change the media.
Then measure what that one change had, and you’ve learned something.
When selling from stage early on, I discovered that if I wore conservative clothing with my hair up, I closed more sales. I learned that if I use the “Napolean Hill” close, sales would double. I learned that presentations founded on client case studies sold more. I discovered that if I gave a bonus the audience could write on the order form, my closing percentage increased. I also found that audience who paid to be in the room were far more valuable as clients than those attending free events.
This is why I teach foundational principles – the rules if you will – of great marketing. That way my clients have sturdy scaffolding to work within, which gives them the confidence to test things without just doing stupid, random acts or marketing.
In all ways you either earn…or you learn.
What are you learning right now about your market? Your customers? Your competition and how prospects perceive you vs. them?
If you’re NOT learning, you’re not earning.
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